Dewhurst, Patrick spend debate assailing each other's...

1of2Dan Patrick, candidate for Texas Lt. Governor, answers a question during a debate against David Dewhurst at the WFAA studios in Dallas, Texas on May 7, 2014. Patrick will be in run-off with Dewhurst on May 27. The winner will face Democrat Leticia Van de Putte in the general election in November for Lt. Gov. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Michael Ainsworth) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY; NO SALESPhoto: Michael Ainsworth, MBR

2of2Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, answers a question during a debate against state Sen. Dan Patrick at the WFAA studios in Dallas, Texas on May 7, 2014. Dewhurst will be in run-off with Patrick on May 27. The winner will face Democrat Leticia Van de Putte in the general election in November for Lt. Gov. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Michael Ainsworth) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY; NO SALESPhoto: Michael Ainsworth, MBR

DALLAS - With less than three weeks before Texan Republicans pick a nominee for lieutenant governor, David Dewhurst and Dan Patrick spent most of a televised Wednesday morning debate accusing each other of lying and lacking the scruples to lead in one of the state's most powerful elected posts.

The round-table discussion hosted by Dallas television station WFAA marked the second televised debate in less than a week for both candidates and the last face-to-face showdown between the incumbent Dewhurst and Patrick, a state senator from Houston, before the May 27 runoff.

Despite questions from moderators about serious policy matters, the two did their part to turn the 45-minute showdown into a mud-slinging match. Both consistently talked over each other, bickered over who is the bigger liar and laid out arguments as to why their opponent lacks the integrity to be lieutenant governor.

"Do you have snake oil for the hair loss," Dewhurst said to Patrick at one point after an exchange on border security and property taxes.

"It's really beneath you," Patrick responded, calling the snake oil comment "cheesy" during the discussion and later telling reporters it was fit for a middle school debate.

The exchange epitomized the bitter - at times flat out ugly - tone of the debate.

Both candidates came out swinging.

Patrick wasted no time assailing Dewhurst over a recent television ad that shows a photo of Patrick apparently partying shirtless with a tie dangling around his neck. It turned out to be from a charity fundraiser for disabled children, in which Patrick says he auctioned the shirt off his back.

No concession offered

"Why did you keep running that ad for five days after you knew it was wrong? Patrick said. "It goes to judgment and character."

Dewhurst apologized for using the photo, calling it a "mistake," but offered no concession for the criticisms leveled in the ad, which focuses on Patrick filing for bankruptcy and walking away from more than $800,000 in debt and allegations he employed undocumented immigrants in Houston in the 1980s.

"What you want to do, Dan, is play a victim," Dewhurst said.

Dewhurst, lieutenant governor since 2013, lost by 13 percentage points in the March GOP primary to Patrick, a Houston radio talk show host and tea party favorite. The winner faces Democratic state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, of San Antonio.

When Dewhurst and Patrick were not jabbing at each other, they addressed public policy questions, spending a bit of time on border security, property taxes, equal pay legislation and education.

On the issue of pay equity for women, debate moderators played a clip of a Dewhurst television interview in which he said he would allow such a bill to come to a vote in the Senate, if the consensus of the upper chamber was to bring it up.

'Not up to government'

"Equal pay for equal work," Dewhurst said, emphasizing that he does not support a bill brought last session on the topic by Sen. Wendy Davis on the basis that "state law already allows for discrimination suits."

Patrick said he would flat-out quash such a measure in the Senate if elected lieutenant governor.

"Women deserve equal pay … but it's not up to government," he said.

A series of barbs

Brief policy discussions aside, the bulk of the debate boiled down to a series of barbs.

"Here he goes again. Personal attacks," Patrick said after Dewhurst brought up allegations that he had employed undocumented immigrants at his sports bar in the 1980s.

Throughout the debate, Dewhurst tried to frame Patrick as unfit to become lieutenant governor "because this man continually lies."

Patrick sought to discredit Dewhurst's moral character and his leadership ability, repeatedly mentioning how Dewhurst left the Senate floor last session during debate on a sweeping abortion package to meet a consultant at a nearby steakhouse.

"Dewhurst needs the debates to be game changers, and neither of the two most recent debates have been game changers," Jones said. "If anything, they've locked in the supporters that each side has, and that's a good thing for Patrick and a bad thing for Dewhurst."

Patrick's campaign, he added, probably should not be pleased with the negative tone of the debate.

"The only person who probably was happy was Leticia Van de Putte, because she can use it to question whether either candidate is fit for office," Jones said.